10. BMW demos consumer electronics integration – with a scooter

 This news piece rightly caught a lot of attention. It describes a BMW concept vehicle that shows how far consumer electronics can be integrated into a vehicle – and which functions smartphones can assume in an automobile context. BMW's answer to the integration question is surprising, but logic.

 9:Bosch jumps on e-bike bandwagon

Electric mobility is not restricted to cars and locomotives. E-bikes have already reached production volumes in the millions – and tier one Bosch has announced to claim its piece of the action.

 8. Large Li-ion battery packs: Active balancing improves many parameters – part 2

Lithium ion batteries are the pivotal piece in the electromobility scenario. And in order to keep them in good shape, cell balancing techniques have been in the focus of designer's interest. The article discusses the best methods to maximize the batteries' energy yield and life time.

7. AUTOSAR: New Paths to ECU Software

 A long runner among the topics of the past few years is Autosar. One of the reasons might be that in general it takes quite some time to reach a moving target. Our readers liked this article particularly well – it helps them to define data exchange options along the value chain.

6. Delta-Sigma converters for audio output in an infotainment FPGA

 Not exactly a mainstream topic, but apparently it hit the demand for many infotainment system designers: An article that describes how to use an FPGA to drive audio amplifiers.

 5. Auto hack: What the industry says

This is not a “How-to” article but the result of a poll among automotive OEMs and tier ones. The poll was triggered by a report on scientists having hacked car ECUs – live, during the ride. They even took control of some of the vehicle's most vital systems. A perspective that makes one's blood run cold. EE Times Europe asked the industry if such a hack could been done on the cars we use in our everyday life. The answers are not always calming.

4. Intelligent brake light: A proposal

The fact that some things are ubiquitous does not necessarily mean they are perfect. This is the case, for instance, with the brake lights of today's cars. The author of the article sketches a more advanced system of brake lights – astonishing, clever – and a good contribution to something we certainly never have enough of: traffic safety.

3. Interoperability is paramount for software tools

Another off-mainstream topic, I expected. Nevertheless the how-to-story about data exchange standards across value chains was clicked like crazy. Perhaps it was a contributing factor was that this topic addresses the needs of designers across many industries and they came by to the Automotive website to read this article.

2. Bosch full hybrid concept in detail

Volkswagen's flagship hybrid model is the hybrid version of the Touareg, and the same role does the Cayenne S play for sports car manufacturer Porsche. The electric part of both implementations is rather similar. The reason is not so much because both companies are part of the same concern, but because in both cases Bosch was the supplier of the motors, generators, energy storage and electronic controls. The article provides an insight into Bosch's HEV architecture concept.

1. LEDs Deliver More from Less

LED lighting was a very important topic in 2010. Not only in general and interior lighting applications LED took center stage but possibly even more so in automotive headlight applications. A clear hint to ongoing R&D work in the industry, the article shows what designers can achieve if they replace their traditional headlights by LED-based concepts. By the way, throughout the year there were more articles dedicated to the LED topic but they came rather late in the year which is why they did not have time enough to gather enough popularity to be reflected in this overview.